The People Power Revolution of 1986

The 1986 People Power Revolution celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. Unknown to most of the youth today, it wasn’t entirely a peaceful revolution. There were all kinds of narratives about how soldiers and common folks pushed each other back and forth, how people would stand in front of military vehicles in hopes of putting a stop to the violence that would soon envelope the area.

“The air was filled with the smell of gasoline, oil and exhaust. The crowd immediately surged in front of the tanks, some people literally trying to push them back. Women clutching rosaries were sobbing, convinced that the tanks were going to run them over. And yet they didn't move away.”

After over two decades of President Ferdinand Marcos’s reign as dictator of the Philippines, the people devised what is known today as the “bloodless revolution”. This revolution aimed to overthrow Marcos and bring back the democracy in the Philippines. And despite the threats of the government, the people stood their ground and continued to preach what they believed in: It’s time to end the dictatorship. It’s time for change. But the soldiers didn’t barge.

“I remember losing my rag as the soldiers shoved us around roughly. I was imagining the bloodbath that was about to happen, with me in the middle of it. I yelled at the soldier in front of me, 'We could be your family. I could be your sister. How can you treat us like this?'”

But there was no bloodbath. The soldiers showed no emotion towards the people, and by that time, the military was already contemplating on whose side they were really on. They chose the people. And the people welcomed them with open arms.

With all the commotions going on along EDSA between the government and the people, there were also those who, though some stood at the sidelines, joined the rally with only a pen and a notepad in their hands. These were the unsung heroes of the Marcos regime: the journalists.

“When I think of this scene and remember the heat, the stench of so many people, the smell of the guns, I remember my fear. Later, I read all the complete sentences written by journalist colleagues and marveled at how they could so neatly describe it all.”

It took a lot of guts to voice things out during Martial Law, and when the People Power revolution began, the journalists took no time in swarming EDSA and joining the people who want to be heard, of course while writing for a front page article at the same time.

“Now I was not persecuted or tortured, like the brave souls who stood up against Marcos, but I was part of a passive, walking dead population that surrendered my rights and my future to the dictator.”

  

And today, every 25th of February, Filipinos still commemorate the Bloodless Revolution that ended a powerful dictatorship, together with the heroes, both sung and unsung, that stood firm in their beliefs of once again freeing the Filipinos from the unclean hands of heartless users.

* the picture and all narratives used come from Candy Gourlay, one of the many journalists during the PPR of '86. She's the one in the middle wearing glasses.